Sabine McNeill on trial: In the corridors

As readers will know (well, all except Neelu, who we hear turned up looking for the trial Friday), court was adjourned on Thursday afternoon until Monday morning, as the judge had professional duties elsewhere.

So rather than our daily court report, we thought we would update you on the various goings-on in the corridors, where those on both sides of the Hampstead case must pass time waiting to be let into the proceedings.

A group turned out to support Neelu and Sabine, and another came to lend support to the witnesses.

When time came to enter the court, the witness support group got to the seats more quickly, taking up the majority of the 11 available seats in the public gallery. Neelu and Sabine’s supporters entered shortly afterward, and were noticeably unhappy that the court would not allow anyone to remain in the room who was not seated.

All members of the public gallery had to leave the court to enable the jury to be sworn in, and during that time we understand some harassment took place in the hallway, with one person approaching a group of women and accusing them of being cult members—despite the large posted sign warning people not to discuss the case.

When he offered to help the group leave the cult, several people made their displeasure clear, but he persisted, and began describing the sexual abuse he fantasises cult members inflict on children. At that point, court officials were called over, and the person was spoken to.

That is not even touching on the various “filming in the hallway” escapades, in which individuals were spotted trying to film those they considered “Satanists”, and had to be reprimanded from the bench. And don’t even get us started on the sandwich-stealing episode….

By comparison, the atmosphere surrounding the current trial has been positively sedate. There has been no fighting over seats, people have held doors for one another and thanked one another politely, and no covert filming or allegations of “Satanic abuse” have occurred.

To be sure, a small group of Sabine’s supporters—usually Belinda and a couple of friends, with appearances by Mary Rooney, Penny Pullen, and one or two people whose identities we don’t know—generally assembles each day at one end of the hall, while EC and one or two others keep a polite distance several chairs away.

On Thursday, though, EC and Postnein were surprised when Belinda approached in quite a friendly manner and congratulated EC on the quality of reporting on the blog.

It seems she’s now advising her followers to rely on Hoaxtead Research‘s reporting of the trial rather than the Daily Mail‘s, and we can’t say we disagree with her.

Interesting that Belinda is now characterising the Hampstead hoax as a “fiasco”—certainly that’s been our take on the situation for the past nearly four years.

As for Sabine’s difficulties in getting to court in the mornings, we have to agree that the current situation seems unsustainable. Each morning the bus leaves from Bronzefield at about 7:00 a.m., but its arrival times have fluctuated from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., with the result that Sabine’s legal team has had very little time to consult with their client prior to beginning the day’s proceedings.

We don’t know what the solution might be, but it doesn’t seem right that any defendant should be deprived of the right to properly consult with their counsel, and we hope something can be done about it.

An appearance by Neelu

On Wednesday afternoon, Neelu and her friend Lee Cant showed up for an hour or two, during the testimony of one of the witnesses whose identity we are prevented from revealing. This case, as readers know, is under a reporting restriction intended to protect the identities of any children involved.

However, that did not stop Neelu from publishing a Facebook post, which was repeated on Twitter, clearly identifying Wednesday’s witness.

By the time we learned about this from several people on Thursday evening, we were told that the police had already been informed, as this not only represents a breach of the reporting restriction, but also a breach of Neelu’s own restraining order, which is identical to Sabine’s.

Should we hear anything more about this, we’ll let our readers know. And now, unless something truly startling happens in the interim, we would propose to take the weekend off, and resume reporting Monday. See you then!

72 thoughts on “Sabine McNeill on trial: In the corridors”

I have to say I think the travelling Sabine has to do is ridiculous. Even a younger person would be tired out by that. Don’t get me started on this is what happens when you privatise services because I’ll go on and on.

I had pate on toast for my supper and noticed chief constable mike veale was on the news. he was saying the police were underfunded and not equipped to provide services. maybe he shouldn’t have spent 1.5 million slandering a deceased tory primeminister. innocent until dug up and tried in a necromantic court by a undead voodoo judge. as for Sabine ? i’ll be preparing a special youtube show to mark the end of the trial. my thoughts are with the jurors, may their arses not get sore nor their brains sullied in moribund atrophy with the tedium of another 3 weeks of planet pedosadist infantivore cult shenannigans. peace.

It is a bit stupid isn’t it…
I wonder why they don’t have a holding facility either at or nearby the courts? Surely it would be cheaper in the long run than transporting people back and forth long distances?
Three to three and a half hours each way is 6 to 7 hours a day travelling time, the cost of fuel, driver and I assume extra guard… just for one case alone…
Insanity!

No. this is what happens when you (allegedly, innocent until proven guilty) consistantly break bail conditions and restraining orders until the court remands you in custody. the prison and the court wouldn’t get any closer to each other nor buses move any quicker privatised or not.

So the Daily Mail has got some facts skewered.
Typical but really if Belinda thinks the “Powers That Be” have got control over that rag she must have been blissfully unaware of Fleet Street’s almost unfettered power over the past 50 years.

But she still thinks Ella reported the matter to police?.
Honestly Belinda has been at the heart of this case for 3 years and yet she can’t recall that Ella’s only involvement with the real police was to jump out the back window when they arrived to interview her and scuttle across the roof and then on to parts unknown?.

As for Penny Pullen, I wonder if she’s contemplating on her and Neelu’s crystal planting adventures outside various courts and the lack of success in that little venture. They seem to have had the opposite effect and drawn them towards the courts.

Not sure if it was the same trial but if memory serves, there was also a bizarre incident involving Rupert being chased out of the court by security and another one where Tracey Morris burst in and started yelling at the judge!

It would be more convenient for the courts and defendants alike if some sort of arrangement could be made to keep defendants closer to the courts where they’ll be tried, though. The other bit of fall-out from Bronzefield being so far from Southwark CC is that the delays in Sabine’s arrival mean that court almost invariably starts half an hour to an hour late each day, which shaves off time which could be more productively spent.

I don’t remember Rupert being chased, but I definitely remember the one where Tracey and two others burst in, Tracey yelled something at the court, and then ran away before she could be stopped. Bizarre shenanigans.

…especially if you do a Google search for an image using “I am smoking a fag” with safe search off. I believe from many of those returned as matches that it might mean something else in the colonies. I am now going to have to disinfect my search history!

The UK public system, be it justice, education, nhs or transport, has always been inefficient and poorly designed, more so now with austerity. The system is what it is, and every stakeholder knows the situation. Sabine McNeill also knows the situation, she made her bed, she can sleep in it. I have no sympathy or complaint about what McNeill is suffering, because she forced the system to behave the way it did in the only way its processes and resources are able to, within the demands that McNeill forced upon it. The fact is that McNeill was not following the terms of her bail, was acting in a manner that forced the system to act for public safety to stop what McNeill was doing, and so she finds herself on remand, along with all the challenges that comes with her, such as moving her sorry arse backwards and forwards from prison and court. Idealism counts for nothing, nor does her discomfort, it is what it is, and McNeill is the agent of her own misfortune. This post does not comment on her court case, but upon why she now finds herself in the resource-hungry and discomfort of the transport and remand situation.

It’s likely that the bus collects other prisoners from other courts, which is one of the reasons it takes so much time. Sabine is so far from the Court that it would make more sense to hold her in a police cell which could be easily adapted by adding a desk and a chair and some decent bedding. About 20 years ago they did this for a while when the prisons were over-crowded. I remember it happening. It wouldn’t be ideal but at least she wouldn’t have that long trip.

I disagree with Sabine’s views on most things but I believe in justice and it seems unjust to me to have a defendant tired out by travelling and then expect them to stay alert in Court when their case is being undertaken.

In an ideal world, the State, would identify a series of assets as primary, backed by a blank cheque and over-riding legal powers to protect and enhance them. These include: children; family; community; energy; food; water; clothing; housing; skills; bees; trees. Backing all these assets is a powerful system that can move immediately, fast and ruthlessly to protect the assets. Someone like Angela Power Disney should have been immediately arrested, deported and nailed down day 1, no excuses, no mercy.

Denis Thatcher was the father of Jimmy Savile?. Randy young bastard- sired Jim when he was 11.
Beam me up Scotty.
# Good presentation by Hedgehog Media. (tip: do NOT let your new intern Concetta Fotheringale-Smythe have access to the petty cash).

Aaah, okay, I think I see Belinda’s game. First, she wants to look all neutral and reasonable by complimenting on EC’s hair. Oh, right, and your mostly-neutral coverage.

Second, and even more so, you’re the foil for her to discredit the Daily Fail. They’re the ones with the big, banner headlines and the far wider direct reach. (Though I’m sure they’re a part of your reach, which means their readers are your readers. Sorta, kinda, sometimes.)

But Belinda would be shrewd enough, even if the poor dear is battling through a fog of fatigue and angst, to know that actual, day-to-day news coverage rather than just a quick media drop-in is a big, big problem from which she and her friends will not likely recover.

She doesn’t have very many hooks to push back. And she’s right. Your visual and written style is…let’s see, the adjectives that come to mind are sedate, studious and almost academic…by contrast. Not normally, but certainly when you’re in trial coverage mode.

I once did a search for a tv documentary about riding horses without saddles, i wanted to make sure i didn’t get the abridged version so i entered BBC bareback riding uncut full length. Imagine my surprise . . .

Let alone this one : “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” , I mean This Mob (®) cherry pick The Bible (old & new) for the bits they like very much like the wacky UK Evangelicals who claim you are poor because you don’t believe in God enough and so on.

Bearing in mind this case is costing the tax payer in the region of a million pounds (a court is the best part of fifty grand per day) i have little sympathy for someone spending time sat on a comfortable heated bus twice a day. Not like she has anything better to do.

Hmm, privatisation has nothing to do with it; the distance from Bronzefield would be the same whoever was doing the driving, the prison service don’t have access to a hyperdrive which is denied to Serco.

The distance is about 19 miles, which I don’t think is excessive for a drive to work in the morning – albeit that the distance is exacerbated by the need to drop off at other courts as well. Most of the other participants will have had to travel much further, though in better surroundings than Mrs McNeill (read on…)

Police cells are unsuitable for stays longer than a few hours and are not a reliable resource – they sometimes get filled up with arrested people and certainly would if they were being used as holding cells. The nearest police station to Southwark Crown Court is Southwark station, which is right next to another Crown Court, so it would probable spend a lot of its time full of prisoners and people arrested in that area would have to be transported to another police station. Expensive and inconvenient for the police who would have to set up an escort service of their own, would lose time on the PACE clock, and would have an increased rate of escapes.

I would find the idea of a Serco box being described as a comfortably heated bus almost amusing if it weren’t so infuriating. Prison transport consists of cellular vans, with each prisoner in their own cell – a tall box with a built in plastic seat. You lean on the back wall with your knees under the seat of the person in front. You have about 4 inches clearance each side and to the front. There is a window with frosted glass to your side, so you can just about see different colours and shapes, unless you’re in the back cells, in which caser you have a blank wall. They are scented by a blend of urine and disinfectant, sometimes with a tinge of vomit. The good news is that the new vans have a toilet, the old ones don’t.

The solution would be for her to appear by video link (and communicate with her team that way) but Crown Court judges and lawyers tend to be uncomfortable about that that option (concern over reliability is one problem) and it isn’t possible for an adult defendant to give evidence that way, so she would have to be produced then. The other solution would be to move the case to a courthouse nearer the prison. The nearest is Isleworth, 8 miles away, but it wouldn’t have capacity to deal with every trial involving a female prisoner.

I agree with people who say that prisoners should not arrive worn out by the journey and the solution is to get video link sorted out both technologically and legally. But she put herself there.

I have been popping in and out reading the Sabine trial updates, my interest in this blog was initially only in relation to the absolute havoc being reeked by Tracey Morris on vulnerable people in NI but now find a wider interest in these linked posts. I have, as someone who works in the criminal justice system, been absolutely blown away by the quality of the court updates, which are better and more legally accurate and aware than most professional court reporters I’ve encountered. And I hope that doesn’t sound in any way patronising, I’m a great believer in credit being given when and where it’s due.